Responses

Hari

One of the biggest factors bringing down US life expectancy is the number of premature babies that survive birth but subsequently die. But for the extraordinary measures available in this country, most of these babies would never be born.
In the US, if 5 extremely premature babies are born, one dies, and four live to be 80, the life expectancy of the five is 64. On the other hand, in most other countries, none of these five would survive long enough to become a statistic; they would simply be miscarriages.
It is intellectually dishonest to the extreme to simply claim without explanation that, “A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations.”

Dan L.

I figured in light of posting Josh’s article, I’d come out and say that I’ve employed this tactic in my studies at NYU recently. I’ve found it most useful for classes which tend to require intellectual digestion with each concept, such as in organic chemistry. I’ve been using it nightly in blocks of 20 on, 10 off and this basically keeps me productive for a solid block of 4 hours for my rigorous classes. With a midterm on the horizon (friday) it looks like this approach is reaching payoff time.

Jack Bauer

Hey Josh might be on to something with the Tabata my job. I’m going to give it a shot this week!
I do miss the old Britney Spears. LOL

Dan L.

In consideration to Hari’s post:
I think it’s intellectually dishonest to try to consider a statistic such as infant mortality on a crude per capita basis. Usually, these types of statistics are more useful as indicators for target zones for public health attention.
Now, trying to link the issue of infant mortality back to life expectancy, I think you’re right that it’s comparitively risky to take these facts at face. This is especially so when you look at the fact that countries such as Albania have double the infant morality and yet come close (77.7 years) to our life expectancy.
One of the options that alot of folks propose is a weighted adjustment in life expectancy for the situation that Hari raises. Is years of “potential life” lost a better indicator generally, or do we continue to factor the random <1 value into a gross mean of how long our country lives?

Dan L.

Oops, I meant quadruple the infant morality. Alabania’s is 20 per 1000 live births compared to the US’s 6.4.

Hari

Dan L, writes,
“I think it’s intellectually dishonest to try to consider a statistic such as infant mortality on a crude per capita basis.”
Why? My point is that in the US, many babies that die during their first year would never have made it even that far elsewhere. In the US, these babies bring down our life expectancy as measured by the study. So what? Obviously, the fact that these premature babies born in the US are given a fighting chance speaks well for our health care system.
Another factor bringing down our life expectancy is the relatively high number of non-health-related deaths (e.g., car accidents) relative to the rest of the world.

maybe the Estee Lauder folks were hoping that we would actually BELEIVE that her body currently looks this way. mirage might have been a better name for the fragrance. or retouch.
or maybe that is just a picture of her after 6 months of crossfit.

by the way hari-great “teaser” interview. would u plese run for mayor?

michelle

oh and will u be doing Helen for me tomorrow?

dan def

Be sure to check out the lower right hand corner of the of the flagstaff cert pix on the main page

Dan L.

Considering that I’ve only used the crossfit forums for posting times and small comments, it seems that Hari was right about its use for engaging in political debate.
So we continue, Hari writes:
“Obviously, the fact that these premature babies born in the US are given a fighting chance speaks well for our health care system.”
I think trying to isolate the premature birth count, and then spin it as an alternate causality for artificially lowered life expectancy is a justified observation. Hence, the reason I stated that the use of infant mortality is often difficult to assess (particularly in premature births of 0-500g where the child has a 20% chance at life).
Where I disagree, however, is extending this as an argument in favor of american competitiveness in health care amongst industrialized nations. First, premature births while high in the United States are not high enough to make them the exclusive domain of an argument for the United States. the world’s leader is, by a large margin, the UK.
Also, premature birth is often attributed in public health as a side effect of unhealthy mothers, living in conditions inconducive to healthy birth; naturally these include high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, clotting and a laundry list of other disorders that are major contributors to early adult death. So, I suppose what’s killing out older Americans, might be having an equivalent effect on our premature children.

Get to do Helen properly tonight (did it last week and screwed it up for some reason)…
Way to represent in Arizona Dan. Off to Toronto next weekend for the cert. Anyone got any suggestions for other things to do in Toronto while Im there, or will I be to tired to do anything else?

Kieth, That Bas video is hilarious, saw it on Dammit’s page a couple days ago and couldn’t stop laughing.
9:57 New PR by 20 sec.
with runs outside, 55lbs DB, fingers interlocked, not wrapped over the end, it saved my grip for the pullups

Brett_nyc

that tater-tot hot dog looks amazing. All it needs is cheese on running off it.

So I did yesterday’s Staten Island Half Marathon in 2:18, which isn’t my best-ever time but is damn good considering how little actual RUNNING I’ve done in 2007. My crossfitting carried me through both mentally and physically. When we had to run up a hill, I would just tell myself that I was stronger than everyone around me because I do all those squats, DLs, presses, pullups, etc and I would push through the pain to keep a good pace with good form.
Speaking of form, I saw some really ugly running out there–way too many people look literally crippled by the distance they have to go. Crossfit’s made me more “proprioceptive” (i.e., aware of my body in space) and I try to always maintain good, upright form while running because if you can’t run with good form, maybe you shouldn’t be running at all (plus, bad form makes the running harder on your body than it already is).
My foot was killing me for the first 5 miles or so but I kept on running and eventually I realized it had stopped hurting and I hadn’t noticed. I then made up for lost time and I swear my second half of the race was faster than my first (no, I didn’t time it with splits, so I can’t swear to that).
I definitely noticed I was passing people left and right for those last few miles, and I literally all-out sprinted the last 100 meters to the finish line.
I was wearing my Respect t-shirt (figured it would be free advertising for the Box every time I passed a fellow runner) and when I raced across the finish line the announcer called out “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, let’s give her some respect!”

http://www.allisonbojarski.blogspot.com Allison

Oh, and thanks to Alex for cheering me on at around mile 3 of the race! That was a really wonderful surprise.

Hari

Dan L,
My point in raising the high survival rate of premature babies born in the US was not to assert that it explains much of the overall difference in life expectancies (I incorrectly cited this as ‘one of the biggest factors,’ my bad), but rather that it explains this quote from the article:
“A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations.”
For a more technical explanation, see:http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/infantmort/infantmort.htm
The primary explanation for the US placing relatively low in life expectancy has to do with the fact that life expectancy is not simply a function of health and health care. Life expectancy is also a function of the probability of non-health-related death.
The article cites only issues involving health and health care. However a statistical analysis separating accidental from natural deaths places the US at the top:http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2007/09/natural-life-expectancy-in-united.html

marisela

nice job allison.
now that i am officially not running the marathon, i will be doing what i do best and that is cheerleading. all the up’s in the world!
git it!

Adam

Hari,
The whole time I was reading that article I was thinking how those statistics were b.s. for the very reasons you stated. The larger problem with these types of statistics is that, for people who are not used to reading them, it portrays the U.S. health care as poor compared to the rest of the world; the (now) common comparison of U.S. health care to Cuba’s raises the obvious question in the lay person’s mind: How can a run down country like Cuba have better health care and a longer life expectancy than us? We’re the best country in the world! (Perhaps it is said with more or less patriotism but I imagine that’s how most would see it.)
This then makes it that much easier for the average Joe to jump on the band wagon of socialized medicine because of the faulty logic “if it works good for them it has to work good for us.” I’m not sure if this is an intentional push by the media towards this end but it isn’t exactly improbable especially considering the second link you posted above.
Socialized medicine is a completely different argument than the current discussion, so I won’t get to involved with it. Suffice it to say that, going into the healthcare field in a few years, I feel strongly against it. Dealing with insurance companies is bad enough; there is no need to further subjugate physicians and their patients by getting the government involved.

marisela

did you know that 90% of all quoted statistics are made up on the spot?

Allan E

Anyone wanting to try tabata-ing their work, here’s a timer for your desktop:http://www.appsapps.info/instantboss.php
If you want you can replace the .wav files to have Mike/Keith/Josh screaming at you to “WORK!!” or “BREAK!!!” instead of the defaults… well worth it!
(I’m tabata-ing today; 20 secs left of break — will report back later!)

marisela

what if you don’t actually do anything at work? this is the conundrum that i face everyday. how does one become more efficient in a job that requires no efficiency.

I would think that accidental death rates are also affected by health care. Everything from access to trauma centers, response times, patient hesitancy to treat illness (“I can’t afford a trip to the ER right now – besides, this looks like it’s healing nicely…”), quality of treatment (both equipment and staff), and so on are all factors that I think could affect the non/fatal outcome of the accident victim.
Also, the CDC link doesn’t cross compare to other countries. This would be useful to support the idea that somehow the US is unique in its burden of premature infant death rates among industrialized nations.
Finally, dangeda dangeda dang.

Kevin

Nice representin’ Dan! Congrats on the PR Brett!. Can I do Helen without the KB swings since my lower back feels like I got hit by a mach truck? I tried to replicate the swing motion at home with no weight and the lower back was not feeling it at all. Still very tight and sore from the deads on Friday.
Need some more advil.

Hari

Moon, writes,
“I would think that accidental death rates are also affected by health care.”
Death from inadequate medical care following an accident should not be considered an “accidental” death.
As I read the study, the accidental deaths that were adjusted for included primarily murder, suicide, falls, accidental poisonings, and automobile accidents.
There are probably instances where some of these deaths might have been prevented by free access to health coverage, but given these initial causes, I am doubtful the potential change in outcomes is more than slight.
Regarding your question on the US infant mortality rate:http://healthcarereform2008.com/?p=55http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2007/09/another_reason_2.html

Helen
400m run on treadmill
50# KB swing (scaled slightly, second time doing them ever)
12 pull ups (i still suck at kipping)
16:43
The swings killed me. I was gassed out by the time i got to pull ups.

P$

Helen
400m run on treadmill
50# KB swing (scaled slightly, second time doing them ever)
12 pull ups (i still suck at kipping)
3 rounds
16:43
The swings killed me. I was gassed out by the time i got to pull ups.

http://www.crossfitnyc.com marisela

helen
cuban run
16kb kb swings
12 pullups w light tan band
18:10
fkin sux
thought i would breeze through, but didn’t realize that i would be so pooped after the heavy kb swings. then i just rode the wave, slowly

Helen as Rx’d
14:01
After my abysmal time, I decided that I had been sitting on my ass too much studying and that I should do Fran with the elements class. Bad Idea
Fran
11:14
I never thought I would see the day when I got an 11 minute Fran. I think it might have to do with the fact that I did helen literally 45 minutes prior and I only slept four hours last night. I also worked on some cross pull-outs for my iron cross progression. jesus those were harder than I thought! 3×5 with my legs on the box upp the the back of my knee. See you guys tomorrow!

Gene

Gotta do some serious icing down of the leg tonight. Leg surgery sucks ass.

Nick P

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
Helen Keller

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